Thurston County announces 6 new COVID-19 cases Tuesday, lowers death count by 1

Olympian - 6/24/2020

Jun. 24--Thurston County Public Health and Social Services on Tuesday announced six new cases of COVID-19, bringing the county's total to 226 confirmed cases.

The county also lowered the number of residents who have died from complications related to the disease by one.

The latest residents to be diagnosed are: a boy younger than 9, a boy between the ages of 10 and 19, a man and woman in their 20s, a woman in her 30s, and a man in his 40s.

Cases identified in Thurston County have been trending younger in recent days. Local public health officials believe the reason is youth and younger adults are beginning to gather without following masking guidelines and maintaining physical distance, according to county spokesperson Meghan Porter. They don't believe the numbers are tied to any particular event or events, she said.

The number of patients considered "recovered" or "recovering" remained at 191 Tuesday, and the number of diagnosed residents who have been hospitalized at some point in their illness stayed at 32. In an update to county commissioners Tuesday, Acting Thurston County Health Officer Dr. Diana Yu told commissioners four residents are currently hospitalized due to the disease.

The county has lowered its number of reported deaths related to COVID-19 from five to four -- a change Porter said was made Monday. Its online data now includes a note that says "if a death certificate is received showing the final cause of death determination that COVID-19 did not contribute to or cause the death, figures will be updated to reflect this information."

Breaking news & more

The death that is no longer being reported as related to COVID-19 was initially announced by the county June 14, according to Porter -- a woman in her 90s who was a resident at Olympics West Retirement Inn, where there's an outbreak of the disease. Her death was removed from the county's figures "upon receipt of the death certificate showing the final determination was the death is not due to COVID-19," Porter wrote in an email.

Three of the four deaths still reported by the county -- a man and woman in their 80s and a man in his 70s -- are connected to the Olympics West outbreak, according to Porter. A man in his 80s whose death was the first reported by the county, on April 4, occurred over a month before the outbreak was discovered and was unrelated.

Care facility outbreaks update

The COVID-19 outbreak at the smaller of two local facilities with multiple cases is now considered finished, Yu told commissioners Tuesday. That facility is Infinite Care Adult Family Home in Lacey, where Yu says Public Health has not found any new cases since the beginning of the outbreak in late May.

Outbreaks are considered finished when two incubation period cycles pass with no new cases discovered, according to Yu.

The outbreak at Olympics West Retirement Inn has not seen a new case since June 8, according to Yu, and will be considered over in early July if no new cases are diagnosed between now and then. Thirty-six cases have been identified as related to that outbreak, The Olympian reported last week.

Two cases at two separate facilities have been discovered as part of a state mandate to test all staff and residents at assisted living facilities with memory care units, Yu said Tuesday, and are being monitored. "Outbreaks" occur when there have been two or more cases discovered at one facility.

Phase 3 status update

Last week, Thurston County submitted its application to move from Phase 2 to Phase 3 of Gov. Jay Inslee's four-phase plan to reopen the economy from shutdowns meant to slow the spread of COVID-19. Since then, County Manager Ramiro Chavez said Tuesday, the state Department of Health has been reviewing the application.

There were some questions to address, Chavez said, and the county received a revised letter from one of the "partners" involved in the application process Monday and submitted it to the state.

Commissioner Tye Menser said that the questions from the state related to a development that occurred after the application was prepared, not because of "an oversight or an omission" on the county's part.

Thurston County Public Health Director Schelli Slaughter expects an answer from the state Wednesday.

"We expect that we will have an answer from the Department of Health tomorrow on our Phase 3 application acceptance or denial," Slaughter said. "And I expect that it will be accepted."

In the region

* Pierce County reported 22 new cases of COVID-19 and no new deaths on Tuesday. The county's total is now 2,312 cases and 84 deaths. It has reported 246 cases in the last 14 days, which amounts to a case rate of 27.3 per 100,000 over that time period, according to the Tacoma-Pierce County Health Department. The rate is above the target for counties set by Gov. Jay Inslee.

* Lewis County announced no new cases or deaths on Tuesday, keeping its total at 52 with three deaths.

* Mason County announced one new case Tuesday, bringing its total to 43 confirmed cases, with three currently considered active, and one death. None of the diagnosed residents are hospitalized, according to the county.

* Grays Harbor County has reported no new cases since June 19, keeping its case count at 24.

Around the state, nation and world

* Washington state has reported 29,386 people with the respiratory disease and 1,284 deaths, according to data from the Washington State Department of Health Tuesday.

* In the U.S., over 2.34 million people have been reported with confirmed cases and 121,176 people have died from the disease, data compiled by Johns Hopkins University shows.

* Globally, nearly 9.2 million people have confirmed cases and more than 474,000 people had died from COVID-19 as of late Tuesday.

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